Allow customization of mouse shortcuts

[Tyriar]

Some users would like to be able to customize not just pure keyboard shortcuts but also mouse + modifier ones. These are currently hard coded, for example alt+click to add a selection.

See #3091 for some more context.

[aegyed91]

+1

I would like to do shift+cmd+leftMouseButton for Peek Definition, would be a perfect combination for me.

[jtremback]

+1

[ironcladlou]

I've found an interesting performance implication resulting from the current defaults/lack of configurability. Consider the hard-coded modifier associated with the "peek definition" functionality. If a plugin must do some work to provide the definition, it's very likely VSCode will ask plugins for definition information even when the user has no intention of obtaining it. As I describe in microsoft/vscode-go#257 (comment):

For example, with the cursor resting still in the editor area, pressing ⌘ instantly invokes the GoDefinitionProvider, even when ⌘ is immediately used in a chord for some other command (e.g. copy, paste, opening the command palette, etc.).

This means calls to godef are happening when the user is pressing a very common key with no intention of obtaining contextual hover information.

When using vscode-go, this means significant extraneous energy usage which could be avoided almost entirely by providing modifier key settings for "peek definition". Not only would the feature be convenient and allow for better host OS GUI integration, but VSCode would be more CPU-efficient for common usages.

[davidpmccormick]

+1 – Atom, Sublime and jsbin.com (presumably others, too) all allow creation of multiple cursors with ⌘+click (on a Mac, at least). It'd be good to be forced to learn as few new shortcuts as possible when switching to a new editor.

[Tyriar]

I'm just completely avoiding using alt+click to add cursors until I can customize to make Windows and Linux consistent. Don't want to build muscle memory when it's going to change later.

@alexandrudima any thoughts on when you could get to this? It's blocking adding cursors via mouse on Linux. I can take a shot at it if you give a high level approach.

[JulieMarie]

+1 I just discovered VS Code and I'm loving it, but as a long time Sublime Text user on Linux, I'm missing the ctrl + click ability. Would love to be able to customize mouse shortcuts.

[Tyriar]

From @ChristopherHaws in #6853

• VSCode Version: 1.1.1
• OS Version: Windows 10 Pro

In Visual Studio (full version), I tend to turn off the Ctrl+LeftMouseClick go to definition feature. I personally prefer to have Ctrl+LeftMouseClick select the entire word under my mouse cursor.

From what I can see, mouse events are not configurable at the moment, and they are also not possible to override with extensions (to the best of my knowledge). It would be really nice to have a mouse mapping configuration file. Sublime Text has this (although it is sort of a hidden feature that is not exposed through the UI). Just as an example, my sublime text mousemap file looks like this:

[
    {
        "button": "button1", "count": 1, "modifiers": ["ctrl"],
        "press_command": "drag_select",
        "press_args": {"by": "words"}
    }
]

[be5invis]

+1 for customization.
I'd like using CTRL to multi-select instead of alt.

[krux02]

I would like to note, that adding cursors with the mouse is impossible on Linux, because alt+click is already used to move the window around (at least on KDE and XFCE), and therefore the alt+click behavior doesn't reach the code editor at all. So I would also suggest to change the default binding to something that doesn't conflict with key combinations of major window managers. Ctrl+Alt+click could work,

[madprops]

It's probably too complicated and nobody dares to refactor it. My advice is to configure your window manager to translate some mouse actions into others. Awesomewm is very flexible for this, for example I added song queue on middle click even though Audacious doesn't support this natively. On Windows you probably can use Autohotkey.

[tbcarver]

@madprops It's not "too" complicated, in the last 8 years there has been a pull request for vs code and an extension that relied on it that implemented this feature. Many usable ways to work around the missing feature using auto hotkey has already been documented in this thread.

This ticket should actually just be closed by Microsoft as "will not do" and just end the thread and the misery of people actually thinking they would ever take any interest in implementing this basic IDE feature.

[alphaho]

For Mac users, to mimic IntelliJ's middle click behavior, here is my workaround config to map middle_click to cmd + left_click through Karabiner-Elements:

{
    "description": "VS Code middle click",
    "manipulators": [
        {
            "conditions": [
                {
                    "bundle_identifiers": [
                        "^com\\.microsoft\\.VSCode$"
                    ],
                    "type": "frontmost_application_if"
                }
            ],
            "from": { "pointing_button": "button3" },
            "to": [
                {
                    "modifiers": ["left_command"],
                    "pointing_button": "button1"
                }
            ],
            "type": "basic"
        }
    ]
}

[nareshrathnam]

+1

[FMorschel]

Hey @hediet, this issue has been assigned to you for years. Are you intent on working on it in 2025? This is the second most upvoted feature on the issue tracker.

[brunolm]

Looking at the backlog, it seems there's 128 things in front of this one.

Looking at recent issues closed, it ranges from 3-16 per week.

This one in particular could take 8-42 weeks just to have someone start working on it (assuming nothing else gets higher priority than this).

In other words, just give up on this, look into AHK and build some scripts with that instead.

[mnn]

In other words, just give up on this, look into AHK and build some scripts with that instead.

It's been a while, but I believe I was already exploring it (well, a similar approach, since AHK is, I believe, Windows-only). I think binding middle mouse button to emulate Ctrl+B ("Go to definition") led to some weirdness when I used middle mouse button to close a tab.

[AnrDaemon]

If you have a programmable mouse that exposes a HID keyboard, assigning extra buttons to some Fx keys may help the issue.

I.e. I have an A4tech X7 series mouse (it is hardware programmable), and I've changed its 3 extra buttons to emit F10/F11/F12 codes.
Works extremely well in all applications, since it's recognized by system as just another keyboard.
Just a note to those using it: if you have a mouse that has multiple physical profiles (my X-740K has two banks), program both modes to the same functions, else you'd be in for a surprise, when the mouse switch the mode one day. Some variants advertise "5" or "7" profiles, but in fact they only have one and use helper program to upload profiles on the fly.

[anay-208]

8 years, i'm shocked

9 Years Now. I'm still waiting for this feature

[egrieco]

8 years, i'm shocked

9 Years Now. I'm still waiting for this feature

Based on @brunolm's info above, we'll probably be waiting for another year or two, if not indefinitely.

In large tech orgs, no one gets promoted for addressing basic user experience/usability issues. I had Apple ignore a similar issue for a decade or two back when I was a Mac user. I believe it is still unaddressed. 😦

[fabiosangregorio]

Please add this 🙏🏻

[drygiel]

Shall we beg? ;/ That's why JetBrains IDEs are better

[BuddyLongLegs]

Need this badly 🙏

[anay-208]

I currently have a mouse with 2 extra buttons, which are doing absolutely nothing, and could do something if this feature becomes live.

[FMLS]

Need this badly 🙏

[babakfp]

• I would like to be able to do this: (Is there a built-in or thirdparty solution for switching between open tabs by order using a keybinding and mouse scroll? vscode-discussions#2593 (comment)). I'm not sure if this feature getting added will help with this or not.
• I would also like to pin tabs by doing something like (ctrl + middle mouse click). By doing middle mouse click you can close a tab, so being able to use (ctrl + middle mouse click) to pin it, doesn't sound like a bad idea.

[SebastianHorluck]

Please add this 🙏🏻

[greenwookez]

+1

[amitoh]

+1

[Dok11]

And no one write about MouseWheel?
I would like to add keybinding "Ctrl+MouseWheelDown" and "*Up" for "Open Next Editor" and "Previous".
PhpStorm allow to do this at least last 5 or 10 years like:

[feinstein]

Don't forget to include the macbook long-press please, as in IntelliJ a long press can jump to definition

[mgiacomi]

Please please please can we implement this.

[daniel-solving-ai]

honestly a shame.. im trying to migrate from PHPstorm to VScode but definetly not feeling it... cant change years of muscle memory just because they wont implement mouse keybinds...

[egrieco]

We're less than a year from the one decade anniversary of this issue being reported! 🥳

[bugslayer01]

just a noob here, but is it possible to make an extension for this that can connect with stroke plus or other similar applications

[AnrDaemon]

We're less than a year from the one decade anniversary of this issue being reported! 🥳

-reported
+ignored

[pungggi]

I tried to implement an extension working when in an editor. But the vsc api does not allow to listen to mouseevents (might be a security concern) but I managed to using a separate webview for tracking a gesture. have a look Mouse Gestures for Visual Studio Code
Here is a demo: microsoft/vscode-discussions#2593 (reply in thread)

[karanbangia]

wow...i broke my finger...just switched from goland to vs code , goland has an option to assign mouse shortcut, so I assigned it to a middle mouse click, and this is open since 2016, so I need to go back to goland i guess